


Regina

by SincerelySwanQueen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan-Mills Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:14:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5705629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SincerelySwanQueen/pseuds/SincerelySwanQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan is a young woman who is just beginning her life in Maine. Things are, well, very routine for her. She is dating Neal Cassidy, a young man who has been a friend far longer than he has been her partner. Setting off her new life in Maine, she gets a job in the toy department Gold's, the largest department store in the city. On a long and very tedious day working in the toy department, Emma sets sight on a customer, an elegant and beautiful woman in her early thirties. The woman, Regina Mills, gives Emma her address to have her purchases delivered. She sends the older woman a Christmas card, a small thank you for making her purchase, and without a second thought Regina responds. One thing leads to another, and the women spend a lot more time together than either of them would have initially expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regina

**Author's Note:**

> To start I just want to say that I do not own the characters, nor do I own the story line that this is loosely based off of. (The movie Carol, or the book 'The Price of Salt'.)
> 
> I am honestly so excited for this. After seeing Carol I instantly fell in love with the story line, and the meaning behind it. I knew instantly that I wanted to transform this story into one for my beloved pairing, Swan Queen, or Emma and Regina. 
> 
> This isn't going to be written exactly as the Movie played out, there will be a lot more things added on and snipped out here and there. Also, I'm not sure how long this is going to be, I am shooting for about twenty chapters, if not more. You will have to bare with me, though, because this will be written as I go along. I was debating on having the story prewritten, but I just couldn't wait to share this with everyone. I am going to try to shoot for one chapter up every week, and if you're luck then two.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing this. xx

Lunch hour for the Gold's department store had finally reached its peak when the clock hit twelve. Emma headed down the back hall way and into the large room that sat just behind the door at the end of the hall. When she entered there were people who had already gotten their food weaving around and through one another as they tried to find a place to sit at one of the long tables. If they were lucky they could grab a seat as someone was leaving, or simply squeezed two people to make a space small enough for elbow room. The whole room roared with sounds of forks against dishes, and voices far to loud as they tried to make conversation with someone who seemed to be out of reach. 

After going through the line, and getting a tray of her own, Emma managed to get a seat at the end of one of the tables. Though she was lucky not to be squeezed between two people, the person the left of her still sat far too close for it to be comfortable. She ignored the touching of their legs, and ate nervously as she read through the “Gold’s toy department” handbook for the third time. She read it for the first time when she started a couple of weeks back, of course, but she felt the need to be sure in herself. Not only that, but with being new and having no one to talk to just yet, she needed a distraction to get through the lunch hour. In her first week at the new job she had gotten herself into the habit of bringing a book to work so that the hour passed faster, and she felt a little more at ease when she sat in the room full of people who had someone and she had nothing. Today though, she had rushed out of the door, just barely having time to brush through her blonde tendrils, and had forgotten all about a book. So, she sat reading about the jobs benefits and holiday scheduling as she ate on the lunch special for the day; mashed potatoes, peas, some sort of roll that was a little to hard but softened with gravy, and chicken that was slathered in brown gravy.

She tried to think about anything else than the booklet that would inevitably bore her to death. Emma thought about her parents that she left back in Oregon when she moved; she would probably give tem a call that night. Maybe she would be able to visit them for a few days during the holidays, probably not, though. She wasn’t really in a place where she could choose when she could take off yet. Her mind wandered to what Neal may get her for Christmas, maybe some new pastels or canvas, that would be nice. Then again, what would she get him? He could get him a couple of those nice button ups in the men’s department of Gold’s, they were reasonably priced enough. Her eyes trailed out of the window to the right of her. The sky took on soft hues of gray and white, the sunlight just barely peaking out of the clouds; perhaps it was going to rain. With her thoughts roaring, inevitably, the hour passed quickly, wasted away in hazy thoughts, pages turned and thoughtless bites taken. 

The afternoon was wasted away much like the lunch period was, though she of course helped customers when she could. One of the customers that she helped was a petite woman, maybe in her mid fifties; her hair was noticeably graying. She was looking for something for her daughter, and insisted that Emma helped her because they looked close in age and size. They went through the women’s clothing to begin with. The woman (who told Emma to call her Ethel when she began a sentence with “Ma’am”) held up various tops to the younger woman’s frame, and asked for her opinion on them. The time that Emma hesitated on a reply, Ethel simply answered with, “Now, you can be honest with me. I don’t want to get anything she won’t like”, and so Emma told her that it wasn’t her type- though she was sure she wasn’t allowed to say such things. After leaving the clothing section she helped Ethel pick out some jewelry for her daughter. They had settled on a lovely faux pearl bracelet, and a small necklace to go with it. 

Other than that, there weren’t many other customers who had actually needed much of her assistance. She wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse, because inevitably it meant that the hours that remained on her shift went by a lot slower. Her mind was everywhere and no where at once; as it often was. She thought about her family, not able to ignore the thoughts about missing them. She had only moved to Maine a little over three weeks ago with her boyfriend Neal because of a job offer that he had received. She wasn’t sure why she had followed him, maybe it was because she wanted something new- something fresh. Her life growing up hadn’t been the easiest, but it also held a normalcy to it that she had longed to escape. Part of her hoped that this move, this change, would be what she needed in order to escape it, but so far nothing had change. She still woke up every morning with the same feeling that there was something that she was missing, yet she jus couldn’t figure out what.

Moving with Neal, was in a way, her way of running away. Yet, she felt like what she was running from had just followed her. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, maybe the issue was Neal. He was her best friend growing up long before he was anything more, and at times she wished she could just go back to that. She was never able to fully admit that to herself, though. Emma was afraid that if she left him, or even if she were just to keep a friendship with him, that she would somehow be alone. And for her, being alone just wasn’t an option. She would never admit that, though. She just reminded herself that she loved him, in whatever way that may be. 

Emma was torn from her thoughts when Belle (the wife of Mr. Gold, the man who owned the store, and store manager) tapped on her shoulder, catching her attention. She had Emma help with inventory and clean up the store, it was nearing four and it would be slow until around five when everyone got off of work. The young blonde trailed behind Belle as she showed her the ropes and what to do in some of the departments. Though Emma had finished her training the first week of the job, Belle had been kind enough to go over a couple of things here and there and help he when she could. They began folding and placing the clothing that had been misplaced back into their original spots. Belle went into detail of how to fold things like cashmere sweaters and tops to keep them from looking bulky, and Emma just watched as her hands moved languidly as she folded the objects sleeves into itself and carefully set the sweater on top of the stack she had previously folded. Belle spoke in a soft tone as they moved to the next table, once again folding things. “So, how are you liking Maine, Emma? I can imagine it’s a lot different than Oregon.” Emma shrugged, maybe it was, she wouldn’t really know. As soon as they moved she had started looking for a job, anything that would help pay the bills and would be enough to cater to her love for art and drawing. In the midst of that there had been unpacking and the sparse decorating of their apartment, so she hadn’t really had time to see the city for herself. The people though, they were a lot different. Many of them seemed to be a lot wealthier than the people back home, but she didn’t care much for labels or ranks anyhow. 

“I like it, I suppose. I miss my brother a bit though, I was actually thinking of ringing my mother up tonight, see how she is. I haven’t gotten a chance to see much of the city though.” The conversation was brief, and light hearted. They spoke a bit about the store and how long it had been open (twenty years), and about their families. Belle spoke highly of her mother, and little about her father. Emma took note, but was sure not to push; she didn’t want to screw up this early on into the job. Perhaps later down the line, she and Belle could be more than co-workers, maybe she could even call the woman a friend. She really could use some friends in the city. 

Once they finished the cleaning up of each department that needed it, Emma took her place back behind the counter that faced the toy section directly. It wasn’t long until the department started booming with people in search of the perfect Christmas gifts before it got to late. People were rushing in and out and all around her, they were acting like it was Christmas eve, thought it was no. She was asked a few times about pricing or deliver, and with that people would be on their ways. At one-point Belle slid past her, handing her a box with toys in it that needed to be stocked back onto the shelves. 

Just as Emma went to open the box, she looked up, and in the same instant the woman turned her head just in time to meet her gaze. The woman was tall, her shoes the cause behind the added height, and her complexion looked as if the sun had reached out itself and touched her, causing her skin to take on a slight olive tone. Her figure was strong, prominent, graceful even in the fur coat that was pushed back by the hand on her waist. Even from a distance, it was obvious that her eyes were a fiery shade of brown, and Emma just could not seem to pull her eyes away from them. She hadn’t even realized that there was a customer in front of her until they repeated their question, and even then she was mute. It was like her mind was on the task at hand, but also glued to the woman that still stood holding her gaze. She was sure that even though there were many salespeople between the two of the, that the woman would come to her. Then Emma saw her walk slowly toward the counter, felt her heart beat quicken with each step, and could feel her face growing hot as the woman in question got closer and closer.

“That set of cars,” she pointed over her shoulder, before meeting Emma’s gaze again, “May I see them, or do you perhaps have anything else like them?” 

Emma set foot to find anymore like them, sure that the one in the display case was the last set that they had. She moved over to a stack of boxes and reached to the bottom to grab a box that had never been opened. When she stood back up, the woman was looking at her with gentle eyes, and a look that she was afraid to face but couldn’t quite look away from. She set the box on the counter, and showed her the only other set of cars that she had to offer. They were a lot smaller in comparison, and there were far less. The woman pointed again at the ones in the display case.

“That’s the one that I like, but I don’t suppose I can have it, can i?”

Emma couldn’t help but notice the woman’s facial features. Her eyebrows were raven colored, curving around the bend of her forehead. Her mouth was wise like her eyes, but her lips were noticeably full and supple. She couldn’t help but notice that her voice was rich and low, raspy even. It reminded her of the coat she was wearing; somehow full of secrets and untold stories.

“Yes,” Emma said.

Without a second thought she went back into the stockroom for the key. The key hung on a nail right next to where they were to check in and out of work; no one was supposed to touch it besides Belle or Mr. Gold himself. One of the co-workers, Natalie, gasped as she saw Emma with the key, but she took it anyways. She went over to the case and unlocked it, removing the set of cars and placing them each one by one onto the counter. 

“You’re giving me the one in the display?” Her smile grew just a bit as she leaned forward, both forearms on the counter as she looked down at the cars that had been placed in front of her, “They will have a fit, will they not?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Emma said.

“Well, then, alright. I would like this. It will be a COD order. Will it get to New Jersey before Christmas?”

Emma nodded, “Yes, it will get there on Monday.” If it didn’t, Emma thought, she would just have to deliver it herself.

“Mrs. R. D. Mills,” the woman’s voice was soft, yet distinct as she spoke. Emma began to fill out the blue sheet that sat before her.

The name, the address, everything that this woman had said appeared beneath the pencil point like a secret that had already etched itself into her head, stamping itself in her memory forever. 

“You won’t make any mistakes, will you?” her voice was steady, unwavering.

It was then that Emma noticed the woman’s perfume for the first time, and instead of replying she answered with the shaking of her head. She took her time as she finished off writing on the slip. She was hoping that the woman would finish her sentence, maybe even ask if she would like to go to lunch with her, but nothing came after the “will you”- nothing to ease her mind about this woman, nothing to make her understand why she felt the need to know her. Emma slid the signature book towards her to sign. 

Then the woman wordlessly picked up her gloves from the counter, turned, and slowly went away; Emma couldn’t help but watch as the space between them continued to widen and widen. Her ankles below the fur of the coat were smooth and tan. She wore black heels, and was even captivating from behind.


End file.
